Provocative posesProfessor of Psychology David Matsumoto's findings on how a leader's emotional cues in speeches may predict acts of terror or political aggression were featured in an Aug. 31 Psych Central article. "Understanding the preceding factors that lead to terrorist attacks and violent events may help predict these incidents or prevent them occurring in the first place," Matsumoto said. "Studying the emotions expressed by leaders is just one piece of the puzzle but it could be a helpful predictor of terrorist attacks."

Predicting patterns Associate Professor of Asian American Studies Russell Jeung was featured in an Aug. 30 Phys.Org report on the complexity of predicting the effect Asian Americans will have in the 2012 presidential election. "Usually people act in a racial bloc or a religious bloc. They have a sense of a shared fate and identity that affects how they vote. For Asian Americans, it's more complicated as they have more cross-cutting affiliations than most Americans," Jeung said. Also, "there's this puzzle of why Asian Americans are less politically involved despite their high levels of education and income," which could be attributed to diverse backgrounds coming from non-democratic societies that lack the idea of political participation and ineligibility to vote due to recent immigration.